Lesson video

Explaining a writer's structural choices.

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and it is absolutely lovely to be teaching you on this lesson, which is all about the structural choices a writer makes.

So today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome which is as follows.

So hopefully by the end of today's lesson everybody will be able to explain the effects of structural features.

And just as in any lesson we have some very important words, our keywords, so I do encourage you just to take a moment to pause the video and jot these words down, particularly if they are new to you because we are going to be using them quite a bit.

So let's take a look at what they are.

Structure, the way a story is put together.

Structural features, techniques a writer uses across a paragraph, chapter or story to organise the information, narrative voice, the perspective a story is told from.

Focus, the area of attention in a story or piece of writing.

And finally, league, which in this context means a unit of measurement equivalent to three miles.

And that's going to be particularly relevant for our first learning cycle.

So our learning today has two very clear learning cycles which are as follows.

Our first learning cycle is titled "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea".

And you might already be thinking about what kind of distance that is based on that last key word we had.

And you might also be thinking that this is a title of a story, in which case you'd be absolutely correct.

It is a fantastic story.

A kind of classic story in science fiction and adventure, which we are just going to read a tiny segment from in learning cycle one.

So super excited about that.

And then learning cycle two, we are going to focus on structure and in particular the structure of the story that we have read in learning cycle one.

So I think sometimes there's a tendency to really analyse the language quite rightly that a writer uses to show its impact, but sometimes we can kind of neglect the structure which is just as important and creates just as many effects for us as a reader.

So really excited as well to kind of teach you that in learning cycle two.

So let's get started then.

So in today's lesson we are going to look at an extract from the novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne.

And you might already be starting to think about what kind of distance that is based on league being one of our key words.

And remember a league is three miles, but in the story, the story follows Professor Pierre Aronnax, his servant Conseil and Canadian whaler Ned Land, taken aboard Captain Nemo's Advanced Submarine, the Nautilus.

As they navigate the ocean's depth, they encounter breathtaking marine life and perilous adventures.

The narrative blends underwater exploration, technological marvels and ethical dilemmas culminating in a thrilling journey that explores the wonders and dangers of the deep sea.

So it really is a fantastic story and unfortunately we're only going to read a very, very small section today.

But if you are interested in reading the rest of the story, then I strongly encourage you to do it 'cause it is a fantastic read indeed.

But quick discussion question for you.

So looking at the summary of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", why might this story be considered science fiction? So pause the video, have a quick discussion or do jot down some ideas if you're working independently, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic start to this lesson.

I'm hearing some really, really interesting discussions and really well done to all of those groups who are picking out very specific things in that summary to kind of highlight why this might be science fiction.

So talking about the advanced submarine, the distance that it is travelling and also the kind of detail of the adventure as well.

These are things that are not really typically undertaken by normal submarines, particularly at the time Jules Verne was writing.

So we would definitely say this is firmly within the tradition of science fiction writing.

Okay, so what is the name of the submarine in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" for me then please, quick check for understanding.

So is it the Nautilus, the Nemo, the Aronnax or the Pierre? Pause the video, have a go and then do push play when you would like to continue.

Okay, fantastic, yeah, I'm hearing people shouting out, it's Nautilus, the Nautilus, you are absolutely correct.

I'm gonna have to make these checks for understanding just a little bit more challenging as we go through this lesson.

But you're absolutely right, it is the Nautilus, all of the rest are names of characters.

So well done for spotting that.

Okay, so let's make a start with this extract then.

So as I said before, we are just reading a tiny bit of the extract today.

So we are going to read a bit from the story where the men have travelled deep into the water and they reach a forest which Captain Nemo considers his own.

This is an underwater forest.

The forest is made up of huge plant-like trees, which have never been seen before.

So quite mysterious, let's see what happens.

Before we do though, let's pick out some really important vocabulary in this extract.

So we have a couple of keywords here.

We have arcades, which in this context means a covered passage.

So if there's a kind of walkway or somewhere you can walk that is covered over, that is an arcade.

We also have the word filament, which is a slender thread or fibre.

So if something is a really small fibre, it can be described as a filament.

We have filaments in light bulbs, for example, and our last word is perpendicular or perpendicularity.

And that means at an angle of 90 degrees to another line.

So you may be thinking already kind of what that may look like in your head.

So let's get started with this fantastic extract.

"This forest was composed of large trees, plants, and the moment we penetrated under its vast arcade, I was struck by the singular position of their branches, A position I have not yet observed, not a herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the trees was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally or stretched up to the surface of the ocean.

Not a filament, not a ribbon, however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron.

The fuci and ilianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines due to the density of the element which have produced them.

Motionless yet when bent to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.

Truly it was the region of perpendicularity." So a really fantastic start to this extract where Verne is kind of talking about this kind of perfect underwater forest.

So my question for you is this then, what is most surprising about this underwater landscape? What kind of most surprises the narrator here? So pause the video, have a quick discussion or jot down some ideas and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, some fantastic discussions taking place there and yet you've absolutely identified the same thing that I've got, which is all of the trees and plant life appear to grow vertically, so they're growing straight up to the surface.

So everything grows in rigidly straight lines, perfectly perpendicular to the surface.

And this is kind of really, really surprising for the narrator.

Okay, let's continue reading.

Again, let's look at some keywords.

So we have the word accustomed, which means you grow familiar with something.

So if you grow accustomed to something, it means it becomes familiar to you.

We also have this word confounded, which means it causes surprise or confusion.

So if something confounds you, it kind of surprises you in a really confusing way.

And finally we have these words flora and fauna, which you will hear quite a lot from time to time.

So flora refers to the plant life of a place and fauna refers to the animal life of a place, every place has its own kind of flora and fauna.

Let's read on, "I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the comparative darkness which surrounded us, the soil of the forest seem covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid.

The submarine flora struck me as being very perfect and richer even than it would've been in the Arctic or tropical zones where these productions are not so plentiful.

But for some minutes I voluntarily confounded the genera, taking animals for plants and who would not have been mistaken? The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this submarine world." Again, really interesting descriptions there.

So my question for you, what does the narrator notice about the flora and the fauna? So the animals and the plants, what does he notice about them? So pulls the video, have a quick discussion and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, once again, some fantastic conversations taking place and while onto everybody who picked up on this kind of alien side of this world.

So the narrator notices it is hard to tell the difference between animals and plant life.

He's really struggling to tell what is an animal and what is a plant, demonstrating the kind of strangeness of this alien world.

Well done to everybody who picked up on that really challenging question that one.

Okay, let's read on the final bit of the extract.

Once again, let's look at the key words.

So self propagated.

If something is self propagated, it means it's able to reproduce without a partner.

Certain plants are self propagating, for example.

Capricious means sudden changes of mood or behaviour.

So you can describe a person as capricious or you could describe a kind of landscape as capricious if it changes quite quickly.

And finally we have the arbour here, which is a sheltered place formed by trees.

Let's finish this fantastic extract.

So these plants are self propagated and the principle of their existence is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.

The greater number, instead of leaves, shoot forth blades of capricious shapes comprised with a scale of colours of pink carmine, green, olive, fawn and brown.

Curious anomaly, fantastic element said an ingenious naturalist in which the animal kingdom blossoms and the vegetable do not.

In about an hour, captain Nemo gave the signal to halt.

I for my part was not sorry.

And we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae, the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.

Okay, so fantastic reading on the extract.

What I would like you to do now then is to show your comprehension of that.

So in the additional materials you will find that full extract, that extract in full and we are going to answer some questions about it.

So the questions are as follows, what is the forest made up of and what is unusual about it? Why is the narrator surprised by the perpendicularity of the plants? What emotions does the narrator feel being in this place? What narrative voice has been used in this piece? What tense is the piece written in? And finally, how are the paragraphs linked? I'll be honest with you, I think these questions are really challenging.

They certainly get more challenging as they go.

So I'm totally looking forward to how you get on with these.

But I absolutely believe you can do a great job on this.

So pause the video, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Okay, fantastic job on that.

It is difficult, isn't it sometimes, particularly when an extract is as old as this, you know, this is over 100 years old, this extract.

So some of the language is a little bit different to what we would typically consider.

So well done for your approach to that, it's a really important skill in English to comprehend text like that.

And you've done a fantastic job.

So let's look at some of the things you could have said.

Well what is the forest made up of and what is unusual about it? Well, we could have said the forest is composed of large tree plants.

What's unusual is that their branches stretch vertically to the surface of the ocean, defying the typical horizontal growth observed in terrestrial plants.

So totally alien to what we would consider above the sea.

Number two, why is the narrator surprised by the perpendicularity of the plants? And remember if something's perpendicular, it grows at a kind of 90 degree angle to something else.

So the narrator is surprised by the perpendicular growth because it's a position he hasn't observed before.

The vertical orientation of the branches, including the fuci and the lianas, creates a unique and unexpected visual landscape.

Well on if you picked up on that one.

Number three, what emotions does the narrator feel being in this place? Well, the narrator experiences initial surprise at the unusual position of the branches, later adjusting to the fantastic position.

Emotions include appreciation for the rich underwater flora and a momentary confusion when observing the closely allied fauna and flora.

So we get this idea that he's totally confused.

He doesn't know what is animal, what is plant, and that really comes across and great job if you picked up on that in your own work.

Number four, what narrative voice has been used in this piece? Well the first person narrative voice is used evident in phrases like I was struck and I soon accustomed myself, providing a personal and subjective perspective.

Really important to think about narrative voice in a piece of writing.

Number five, what tense is the piece written in? Well, the piece is written in the past tense, recounting events that have already occurred during the exploration of the underwater forest.

And finally, question six, which I think is the toughest one.

How are the paragraphs linked? Well, we could say the paragraphs are linked chronologically and thematically.

Each paragraph builds upon the previous one describing the exploration, the unique characteristics of the forest, the narrator's adjustment reflections on the flora, and a philosophical discussion about the anomaly of the underwater world.

Well done if you are able to get anything similar in your own work.

Okay, we have reached learning cycle two already.

We have worked incredibly hard so far and let's keep that hard work going into the second learning cycle.

So as I mentioned in the introduction, this is all going to be about structure and in particular how Verne structures that extract to engage us as a reader.

So without any further ado, let's get started.

Okay, so quick discussion question to kick off learning cycle two for me then please.

What structural features can a writer use to engage a reader? So a quick clue, this is anything that isn't kind of language based.

What could a writer do to engage us structurally? Tricky question in this one, but pause the video, have a quick go and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic conversations to kick us off with learning cycle two, you could have said any of the following things, you could have said, focus, pace shifts, contrast, openings and closings, withholding information, sentence structures, order of a story, and finally, narrative voice.

All of these things are things that could be considered structural devices that a writer uses.

In fact, Verne uses quite a few of them in the extract, which we're gonna look at in a little bit more detail.

So these can all be considered structural features.

And if any of these are particularly new to you, I would encourage you just to pause the video and jot them down into your notes or into your workbook.

Okay, quick check for understanding for me then please.

Let's see what you have taken in from that last slide.

So which of the below can be considered structural features? Is it focus, simile, narrative voice or metaphor? And I'll give you a clue, it is more than one of these.

So hit that pause button, have a go at the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who's kind of saying simile and metaphor, that's kind of language, sentence level things that can't really be considered structural devices.

It is absolutely focus and narrative voice.

Great job for picking up on that.

Okay, so let's look again at the extract from "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", and see how Verne has structured the story to interest us as a reader.

Let's look at all the fantastic things Verne has done structurally to make this as engaging as possible.

So we have that opening, I'm not gonna read it again, but if you would like to kind of reacquaint yourself with this then do pause the video and read it again.

But we've got that opening section where kind of Aronnax is first kind of seeing this underwater kingdom.

So how does Verne structure the text to engage you as a reader? What does he do here? Let's take a look at some of the things he does.

So Verne's paragraph alludes to the mystery of the place.

He says, "I was struck by the singular position of their branches, a position I had not yet observed." So Verne references this singular position of the branches but doesn't elaborate further.

By withholding this information to the second paragraph, we are engaged and want to learn more.

So a really good example of kind of withholding information, which kind of builds tension in us or expectation in us as a reader.

Really nice device here.

We've also got this idea that Verne then shifts the focus to draw us into the small details of the place.

So you know, going back to that structural device of focus, which is a really important one, you'll see that one time and time again.

But we've got the herb, the branch, the filament, the fuci, the ilianas, the ribbon.

All of these things are kind of a minute focus that Verne has.

So this allows us to draw in the small details of the place.

Every piece of plant life, however small, is perpendicular.

We kind of get this idea of it being perpendicular, which is very, very strange.

By focusing in like this, we see that this phenomenon is extensive and affects the whole area.

You know, Verne doesn't just say, the whole place was perpendicular.

He kind of gradually by way of focus, kind of brings us into this idea which really kind of interests us and engages us as a reader.

Okay, let's continue, I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position as well as to the comparative darkness which surrounded us.

The soil of the forest seemed covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid.

The submarine floors struck me as being very perfect and richer even than it would've been in the Arctic or tropical zones where these productions are not so plentiful.

But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera, taking animals for plants and who would not have been mistaken? The fauna and flora are too closely allied in this submarine world.

So I'm gonna hand it over to you now for this one.

How does Vern structure the text to engage you as a reader? What does he do in this part of the extract? Really excited to see how you get with this.

So pauses the video, have a go, and then push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Okay, great job on that.

This is really difficult sometimes to pick up on structural devices, but I was really impressed by what I heard.

Some of the things that I picked up on were as follows.

So it's written in the first person and we can see that with words like myself, us, me, I, and this structural choice is great at engaging the reader as it, it is almost like we are experiencing this world alongside Aronnax.

Remember what we said at the beginning, narrative voice is a really important feature, a really important structural feature, and it can serve different purposes.

So in this purpose it makes it so much more engaging because we are almost experiencing this world with Aronnax himself.

We've soon got this thing as well.

We've got Verne uses contrast really, really well.

So there is this kind of element of contrast running throughout this extract.

And that contrast is between the kind of what he calls the terrestrial well, which is the world above the seas surface.

So he states that this subterranean place is even richer than the arctic and tropical zones of earth.

So regions known for their kind of diversity and beauty.

As a reader, we know these places and realise this place is truly magnificent to be richer than both of them.

So a really great example of contrast here in this extract and great job with you able to pick up on that in your own discussions.

Okay, let's finalise with the final part of the extract.

I won't read this, but we'll just go straight in to thinking about how Vern structures this to engage us as a reader.

So we've had narrative voice, we've had focus, we've had withholding information and we've had contrast.

Let's see what other kind of structural devices we have at this point of the extract.

So Verne also uses each paragraph to greater reveal the mystery of this place.

This final paragraph shows this place at its most mysterious with self propagating plant life on a scale of colours.

Vern has built up to this with each new paragraph revealing more and more mysterious detail.

So a kind of gradual release of this fantastic information, which I think is a really clever structural device from Verne.

Okay, so let's move on and to think about how we can start to analyse what we have looked at there.

How can we write about these fantastic structural devices? So both Alex and Sofia were asked the following question, how does Vern structure the text to engage you as a reader? So Alex said, "I think Verne engages us through the use of the first person narrative voice.

The choice of this structural technique enhances the mystery of this place.

It's almost as if we are seeing it through the eyes of Aronnax and sharing in his amazement." Okay, and Sofia has written, "I think Verne engages us through the gradual reveal of this underwater kingdom.

Each paragraph presents it with greater mystery.

I think this is a conscious choice from Verne to gradually show just how strange this place is." So two really nice paragraphs there from the Oak pupils that really kind of capture the structural device as well as its impact.

So discuss, Alex and Sofia want to know what you think is the most engaging structural feature Verne uses.

So over to you, what is your kind of personal opinion on this? What do you think is the most engaging structural feature? Really excited to hear your feedback on this.

So pause the video, have a go, and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, some lovely conversations taking place.

There's some really hard work, and of course, that personal opinion, that personal reflection is really important when you come to write your essays.

You know, you have to develop your own personal opinion based on what you read so well done for having such a fantastic effort with that.

Okay, you could have said shift in focus to small details.

First person narrative, use of contrast, mysterious opening, paragraph focus with each one becoming more mysterious and the sentence structures themselves.

All of those are perfectly viable things that you could say are the most engaging structural feature and what on if you picked up on any of those in your own conversations.

Okay, so we have reached our final practise task of today's lesson.

We have learned an all four lot today, haven't we? So it seems only right that we put all that fantastic knowledge to good use by creating a really nice piece of writing.

So answer this question, how does Verne structure the text to engage you as a reader? Use the following sentence structures to help you organise your ideas.

So those sentence structures are by using Vern conveys a sense of, because as, and this is seen when, this is a tricky task, this is a very hard task.

Writing about structure I think is one of the most difficult factors of kind of English language analysis.

But I have total faith in you.

I think you can do a fantastic job on this and I'm really looking forward to how you get on with it.

So pause the video, have a go at the task and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, here's how you could have approached this task, by using strategic withholding of information and a gradual reveal, Verne engages the reader by creating an air of mystery from the outset.

Verne's first paragraph alludes to the forest singular nature without immediate elaboration.

This deliberate choice piques the reader's curiosity, compelling them to read on.

As Verne shifts focus to intricate details like the fuci, the filament, the ribbon, every piece of plant life is described as perpendicular, emphasising the extensive and uniform nature of this phenomenon, keeping the reader intrigued.

So well done on all of your hard work as well, and for your paragraphs.

And don't worry if yours is not identical to this.

It continues, moreover, Verne structures each paragraph to progressively reveal the forest's secrets.

The final paragraph culminates in the most mysterious details yet, self propagating plants with a colourful scale, each paragraph builds on the previous heightening the sense of discovery and maintaining reader interest throughout the narrative.

So a really nice example here and really nice example of that kind of development of a piece with greater analysis as it goes on.

So once again, don't worry if you've not done it identically to this, but I'm sure you've done a fantastic job with your work today.

Okay, then we have made it.

We have reached the end of today's lesson.

So let's take a look back at all of the things we are focused on today.

So when we talk about how a text is structured, we mean what does the writer focus our attention on in each part and why, writers make deliberate structural choices to create precise effects.

And finally, don't comment on word choices or devices.

Instead, consider the effects of shifts in focus or narrative perspective.

Thank you very much for such a fantastic lesson today and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence.

Thank you very much and goodbye.